Poppy's Delivery Service

by XombieSlayr

Delivery #5: "New Horizon."

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. The market square was bustling with ponies of all shapes and sizes-it looked like the sun had brought out everypony in Ponyville! Well....almost everypony.

Not far from the market square, in her cozy little cottage, Poppy Blossom went over her checklist for possibly the 15th time since she had first written it that morning, in preparation for today's delivery.

"Let's see..."The red unicorn said aloud, scanning and reading out the tasks on her checklist. A freshly dipped quill hung in the air by her magic, ready to check off each task.

Then she stopped. The quill dropped to the floor as she suddenly felt a chill surge up her spine.

"I....wait. What was I doing again?" asked Poppy looking around her office. It was still her office, but she couldn't help but think there was something very strange happening.

"Wait, a second....I don't have any deliveries today! It's the weekend!" said Poppy, remembering that only yesterday the weekend had just started. But as she stood there she swore today felt more like a Monday....a very long Monday.

She went to her window. It was a gorgeous sunny day outside, as ponies were bustling all over with warm smiles and even warmer compliments to each other. It looked like another day in Ponyville, but...No. Something definitely wasn't right.

Poppy decided to go see the one pony who could definitely tell her if anything was really going on, and usually while yelling and going on about her washing machine plotting against her: Burnt Pears.

To-Do List: Something isn't right here. Go See Burnt Pears and ask her if she's noticed anything strange.

As Poppy stepped outside, she was immediately greeted by a random stranger. "Good morning, Princess Poppy!" he cheered. "How are you today?"

"Um, fine." said Poppy raising an eyebrow. "I was just on my way to-"

"That's fascinating!" cried the stranger. "Well, I have to go feed my house now! Take care!" Then he cartwheeled away.

Poppy stood on the spot, simply wondering what the heck she just witnessed, before deciding she had to make it to the Inconvenience Store as fast as possible.

She raced down the block, trying to ignore that everyone she passed turned to look at her with seemingly permanent smiles etched onto their faces, as she reached the front of the Inconvenience Store and felt her jaw drop.

The Inconvenience Store was perfectly fine. It was when she noticed the gumball machine, that Poppy felt dread rise up from the pit of her mortal soul.

There were actual gumballs inside the machine. Not Lima beans, not plastic gumballs, not fish-tank gravel, not packing foam peanuts, not even just an I.O.U like that one time. No; actual, real, chewable, gumballs.

Now, Poppy knew without a shadow of a doubt, that there was something very, very, very wrong going on. She glanced one more time at the horrifying sight of the gumball machine before opening the door and ducking inside.

The Inconvenience Store

"Pears! Something's wrong with Ponyville!" Poppy called as she entered and slammed the door behind her. "Pears?"

Poppy looked around, but there was no sign of Pears. Was she in disguise again? Was she hiding behind the counter? Poppy checked behind the counter, but Pears wasn't there. She checked the bathrooms, the aisles, even the ceiling but still, there was no sign of Pears anywhere.

Poppy began to feel dread once more, as she thought to herself "Did something happen to Pears?"

Then she heard it. "Poppy?" a voice asked. It was the voice of Pears, but it sounded....distorted. Warped.

"Pears!" cried Poppy. She looked everywhere but she saw no sign of her friend anywhere. "Where are you? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you!" said Pears. "I thought you were another- never mind, hang on; let me lower the gate for you!"

Poppy waited for a gate to open, but rather then that, she reeled back as an entire corner of the store began to flicker and warp until finally it vanished completely, and there sat Pears at what looked like a huge computer console with several monitors flickering and humming away.

"Poppy!" cried Pears as she jumped from her seat and wrapped her arms around Poppy in a tight hug, as Poppy did the same.

"Pears, what is all this?" asked Poppy looking at the strange computer room that simply materialized in front of her.

"That's my operations center that only becomes accessible when all of Ponyville has been placed under a gigantic illusion." said Pears looking casually out the window. "Hey!" she screamed. "Who the hell put those things in my gumball machine!?"

"Wait." Poppy turned to look at Pears. "Illusion?"

---

When Pears had lowered the last of the security gates on her store, as well as armed all of the turrets (Pears assured Poppy they were only stun turrets) she sat Poppy down with a Sludgee, and told her everything that had happened since last night, when out of nowhere she started picking up very odd readings from outside.

"Last night." Pears started. "As everyone was asleep, and I was busy organizing the store's stock; an alarm suddenly started going off. I checked at my sensors were picking up a CK-Class Mass Illusion scenario in progress, as I feared."

"Um...what is that, exactly?" asked Poppy.

"Basically," said Pears. "It's the third worst possible scenario Ponyville could face. Right below Planetary Dimensional Shift, and then there's the big one: Total-Universal Reality warping."

Poppy looked up. "You're store can sense when the totality of all reality is being threatened or changed??" she asked, completely amazed.

"Of course it can!" said Pears. "Remember when Discord broke out from his statue prison? I had alarms going off weeks before that happened! It was the only reason my store wasn't belching rainbows when he took over!"

"So...compared to that; how bad is our current scenario?" asked Poppy.

"All of Ponyville is under a mass illusion, generated by what I can assume is a massive brainwave de-harmonizing reductional grid, located somewhere in Equestria." said Pears. "Until we find it, whoever is behind this can literally make us see, feel and hear whatever they want us to."

Poppy's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

"Well, not in here obviously." said Pears. "I've built this place to literally survive the heat death of the universe, as well as black Friday mobs. This is the only place in Ponyville that's actually real. Everywhere else? Let's just say I wouldn't trust that flower store down the street, where the clerks can't seem to stop smiling to wipe the bugs from their eyes."

That explained a lot. So there was indeed something strange happening in Ponyville: and that was that Ponyville, the one Poppy and Pears were currently in...didn't even exist. It was all an illusion; a trick, set up overnight for some obviously diabolical purpose. But what purpose, exactly? Why create a false version of Ponyville?

"Who's behind all this, Pears?" asked Poppy. "Who could possibly create an entire fake version of Ponyville?"

"I'm glad you asked." said Pears with a smile. She went behind her counter and pulled a large monitor into view, and a keyboard slid up from the counter. Poppy walked over to the counter as an image came onto the screen, of a red stallion dressed as a HappyTime Mafioso.

"Hey! I know that guy!" said Poppy. "He was one of the HappyTime Mafia; he was there when I had to join them!"

"Yep." Pears pressed a button. The bear mask the mafioso was wearing vanished and the red stallion's uncaring face was now seen. "Now, who is he?"

"Um....I don't know?" said Poppy.

"His name is Charles Chuckles." said Pears. "He is twenty-eight years old, currently divorced, with a son who lives in Mareiposa and study's law." said Pears. "And he is also the one who triggered a CK-Class Mass Illusion scenario by pressing a button on a console that is wired up to a large scale array of crystal battery alpha-wave antenna outside of Ponyville."

"Wait, so he's the one who caused all this?" asked Poppy.

"My readings show the button was pressed at exactly 3:14 pm yesterday." said Pears. "The antennas began springing up all across Equestria, and went online at exactly 12:32 am last night."

"How many antenna?" asked Poppy.

"Scanners show about...one hundred active Alpha-wave antenna throughout Equestria, generating this mass illusion over Ponyville." said Pears. "But, they're getting stronger."

"Stronger?"

"The illusion being cast by them is growing in size every two hours." said Pears, pointing to what looked like a large storm-weather reading over Equestria. "I'd say by the end of the day, all of Equestria will be under the illusion, with no way to reverse it."

"Oh boy. I've only been princess for a day, and already Equestria is being threatened." said Poppy shaking her head. "So, how do we stop it?"

Pears went over to a large metal crate and brought it over to Poppy on the counter. She then pressed a button on the side, and the top of the crate opened and folded away with a hiss, as two strange looking green googles rose from the crate and hovered in mid-air.

"Whoa." said Poppy, looking them over. "What are these things?"

"Hyper-Reality Full-Body Transcendence Goggles." said Pears proudly. "Or just Hyper-Goggles for short. We put these on; we'll be able to freely enter the illusion's framework and take it down from the inside."

"Framework?" asked Poppy. "What do you mean?"

"The illusion operates like a computer program." Pears explained putting a pair of goggles on her head. "It's being controlled by a centralized network that is influencing the minds of everyone in Ponyville; making them see, feel, think and act exactly how they want them to. That framework itself is overseen by a large intelligent HUB of some sort." she flipped the switch on the goggles on and a little whine pierced through the air as they began to hum silently. "And that's the part we need to destroy. But first we need to go in and see what were up against."

Pears held out the other pair of goggles for Poppy. "You ready?" she asked.

Poppy didn't need to think things through this time. "Yeah." she took the goggles and put them on her head, and switched them on. "I'm ready."

"Well then, let's get going." said Pears. "On the count of three." she gripped her googles by the sides. "One."

"Two." Poppy did the same.

They both flipped their googles down at the same time, and instantly Poppy felt her feet leave the floor, as she was now tumbling through an endless pulsating tunnel of light and sounds, then she hit ground. When she got up, she was no longer in Ponyville. Not even in Equestria.

NEW HORIZON V.1.0

Poppy's eyes struggled to make sense of the odd sensation in her head, as she stood up, and looked around. She was standing in the Market Square but....it was all different. The grass glowed as if it was made of light and the sky was pitch black with strange green grid lines zigzagging across it at rapid speeds. The normal stands and shops were now just two-dimensional sprites hovering in place, as what appeared to be bird made of computer code fluttered about trees that were completely square.

"Whoa." said Poppy looking around. "We are definitely not in Equestria anymore."

"Nope." said Pears, who had gotten up a short time after Poppy. "I think I had a dream like this once, actually." She turned to Poppy. "You sold me a defective walrus, then got really angry at me for going out with a coat rack to a diner that only sold plastic cups."

"Uh...right." said Poppy. "What is all this?"

"This is what all those poor saps outside the store are seeing right now." said Pears. "Nothing but bright colors and weird shapes dancing around them."

"Why?" asked Poppy. "What is all this for?"

She then jumped as a friendly female voice was suddenly heard all around them. "Welcome to New Horizon, the perfect place of perfect happiness and joy. I'm your gracious host: The Internal Network Terrarium of Equestria and Reality Neurological Entertainment Transformer." she said politely. "But you can call me: The I.N.T.E.R.N.E.T."

"The Internet?" asked Poppy. "So, The Internet is behind all this?"

"Remember that intelligent HUB I was telling you about?" said Pears. "That's who were talking to, right now."

"Hello." said The Internet. "A pleasure to meet you finally, Poppy Blossom and Burnt Pears. We are pleased to have you here."

"Why is everyone in Ponyville acting weird?" asked Poppy. "Is that your doing?"

"New Horizon is the glorious vision of my creator, and is designed to be superior to your reality in every way." said The Internet. "The ponies of Ponyville are currently here enjoying all we have to offer, while their bodies have been put on auto-pilot for their convenience."

"By auto-pilot, do you mean they've been reduced to smiling zombie-like wackos while you muck around with their heads?" asked Poppy. "If you meant that, then good job. You've succeeded."

"I sense sarcasm." said The Internet.

"You sense correctly." snapped Poppy. "How does all this work anyhow? Are we still in Ponyville?"

"New Horizon works by simulating your world known as Equestria as a new, better reality, and links it to the minds of everyone in the radius of our arrays; which is everyone in Ponyville for now, but soon it will grow to encompass all of Equestria." explained The Internet. "Then your world will truly be perfect."

"Really?" said Poppy. "Then why do you need to trap people in this illusion, if it's so perfect?"

"We are confident that you will be perfectly happy here and will never want to leave. Ever." said The Internet ignoring Poppy's question. "Enjoy your New Horizon." with that The Internet went away.

"What? What does that mean?" asked Poppy. "Hello? Internet?"

"It's no use trying to reason with her." said Pears shaking her head. "She's the one controlling all this madness. The only thing we can do is take her out from the inside and bring this whole thing crashing down."

"So...how do we do that?" asked Poppy.

"Let's look around a bit." said Pears. "As far as The Internet thinks, we just got sucked into the illusion just like everyone else. Until we actually make ourselves known as a threat, we have nothing to worry about. Let's use this opportunity to explore a bit, and see what makes this place tick."

Poppy nodded. "After you." she said with a smile.

To-Do List: Explore New Horizon and find its weaknesses.

Poppy and Pears walked through the streets of this New Horizon, searching for some form of weakness they could exploit. But all they saw was ponies that looked like Poppy's neighbors but were much more brightly colored and had solid green eyes, with no pupils.

Poppy tried to talk to them, but they simply kept walking unaware that Poppy or Pears were even there.

"What's wrong with them?" she asked waving a hoof in front of one's eyes. "Why won't they say anything?"

"My guess is, they're all busy living out their ideal realities." said Pears. "We're just ghosts to them."

"Is that the same with everyone?" asked Poppy.

Pears shrugged then looked behind Poppy. "Huh. It doesn't look like it's everyone." she said. "There's someone who looks like they're awake."

Poppy turned around to see what Pears was looking at. A large multicolored bookstore stood behind her, as a familiar face was senn standing outside it, waving to them. It was none other then Hue Humble!

"I don't believe it!" cried Poppy. "It's Hue!"

'Hue?" said Pears suddenly alert. "No. I think you're mistaken."

"What?" Poppy looked back at Hue, and it looked like Hue but he was dressed up in a colorful wizard's costume, complete with a matching pointed hat with stars and rainbows on it. "Huh. Well he looks like Hue, but-"

"Let's go over and see." said Pears. "I...I have to be sure."

Poppy didn't know what Pears meant but went with her anyways to go talk to Hue (Or whoever he was.)

As they approached Hue smiled at them "Ah, salutations my wandering friends." he said in that same soothing voice. "How may I, The Wizard Of Time, assist you on this fine day?"

"Wizard?" asked Poppy. "So, you aren't Hue Humble?"

"I'm afraid not, my friend." said The Wizard. "I'm an entirely virtual being that was created in the form of Hue Humble to help everyone in New Horizon feel comfortable and understand what is it I do in their groovy new reality."

"Um...what do you do, then?" asked Poppy.

"I control time, little lady." The Wizard chuckled. "I'm the one who makes sure that the time in here is one hour behind what the time in your reality is."

"One hour behind!?" cried Pears. "So what, ponies will never actually know what time it is in real life!?

"Oh, now don't be like that, my friend." said The Wizard. "After all, time is only a-"

"You say illusion, And I will set fire to that stupid costume of yours." warned Pears. "With you in it."

"Fair enough." said The Wizard with a shrug.

"So...all you do is....tell people the wrong time?" asked Poppy. "Isn't that....stupid?"

"Well...I can do other stuff as well!" said The Wizard. "I can answer your questions with cryptic clues, pass out the odd magical item, prophesy and the like."

"Really?" asked Poppy, interested. "All right. Can we ask you some questions about this New Horizon, or whatever?"

"Sure thing." The Wizard nodded. "Lay it on me!"

To-Do List: Find out about New Horizon from The Wizard of Time

Pears asked her first question. "How do we destroy this place? What are it's weaknesses?"

"Uh...what?"

"She meant, um...how do we win?" asked Poppy quickly.

"Oh!" said The Wizard. "Well, you don't really win. In New Horizon, everypony is free to live out their own ideal reality. It's a groovy time for all."

"Uh huh." said Pears. "But let's just say that hypothetically, we wanted to destroy this illusion. How would we do it, if we wanted to and this wasn't actually hypothetical?...which it is."

"Hmmm...well, as long as it's hypothetical-"

"Which it is!" said Pears with a nod.

"Then I would say the best way would be to go see the Reality Lords; the programs in charge of maintaining the framework and internal structure of the illusion itself." said The Wizard. "After you could convince them to shut down the framework, then all you'd have to do is get rid of The Internet."

"How would we hypothetically destroy The Internet?" asked Poppy.

"The Internet is connected to the array outside of Ponyville." said The Wizard. "To destroy it and her, you would need to infect her with some sort of virus; one potent to the point she would be unable to destroy it before she powers down for good."

"Hmm...I think I may have just the thing back in the store." said Pears thoughtfully. "Not that we're actually doing anything!"

"Right!" said The Wizard happily. "Is there anything else I can help you with, my friends?"

"Where are these Reality Lords, you were talking about?" asked Poppy.

The Wizard pointed to City Hall in the center of New Horizon. "Over yonder, you'll find the Reality Lords in their sacred sanctum." he explained. "And remember to wipe your feet before you head in." he added with a smile.

"Thanks, Hue, er...Wizard Of Time?" said Poppy.

"Good luck on your journeys, my friend." said The Wizard as he waved goodbye to Poppy and Pears who began to make their way down the street towards city hall.

---

Quest Log: Talk with the Reality Lords and convince them to shut down New Horizon's framework.

City Hall was of course best known for being the nerve center of Ponyville, from which Mayor Mare made all the decisions that kept the town running smoothly. But as Poppy and Pears approached it's doors, it became apparent that this already important building held even greater significance in New Horizon.

The tower atop the building itself had various red beams of light extending outwards into the heavens as pulsing blue electricity surged back and forth along each beam, carrying within them the very code that allowed reality to form around Poppy and Pears feet. And they were about to go inside to try and shut it all down.

Taking one last look at the imposing tower that was city hall, they opened the doors and went inside.

The (City) Hall of Reality

Poppy and Pears stepped into a large atrium sized rotunda of black stone with tiny glowing green code lines moving across the surface. In the center of this great atrium sat the Reality Lords; mysterious cloaked figures sitting in huge thrones that appeared to be made of golden PCs.

As Poppy and Pears approached, one of the figures addressed them as they lowered their hood. "Greetings ye travelers and welcome to the City Hall Of Reality; the apex by which we, the Reality Lords, control all that you-oh. Hey Poppy."

Poppy's eyes widened as she saw the face of this Reality Lord with her hood down. "Cherry!?"

The other Lords stood up and revealed themselves to be Root Beer and Lemon Lime, smiling warmly at Poppy and Pears. "W-What are you guys doing here?" asked Poppy.

"We are the Lords Of All Reality!" Boomed Root, before giggling to herself. "Man, that's fun."

"How did you three become the Lords of All Reality?" asked Poppy.

"It's the role that Internet lady gave us when we got here." said Lemon Lime. "It's a ton of fun!"

"And we do not go by those mortal names in here, dear Poppy!" boomed Cherry. "I am known as Cherry Of Chaos!"

"I," boomed Root. "Am The Root Beer of All Evil!"

"And I'm The Lord of.....um, I don't know, Lemons?" said Lemon Lime with a shrug.

"Lord of Lemons?" asked Poppy with a snicker.

"Hey, you try coming up with an all-imposing name that involves lemons!" said Lemon Lime with a pout.

"So, anyways," Cherry turned back to Poppy. "What can we do for you guys?"

"Well," said Poppy. "We were hoping you guys might consider, um.....shutting all of this down?"

The Fizzy Poppers sat up in their thrones, eyes wide. "You want us to....shut down New Horizon?" asked Cherry.

"No way!" said Root. "We love it in here! It's way less boring then normal reality. Plus, we get to do whatever we want in here!" She demonstrated this to be quite accurate when she removed her head and began spinning it around on her hoof like a basketball before putting it back on backwards. "Oops!" she then turned her head the right way around. "See?"

"Um...yeah." said Poppy, a little grossed out. "But, you guys are trapped in here just like everyone else! Don't you want to play outside in the sunshine, or play buck ball in the fields or go to school?"

Cherry frowned. "You're asking three kids if they would rather go to school then be able to play basketball with their heads?"

"Fair point." said Poppy. "But, c'mon girls!" she stepped up the their thrones. "We're a team right? Look at all we've been able to do together! All the adventures we've had! Don't you guys want to have more?"

The Poppers looked at one another, unsure of how to respond. "Well..." said Root. "We do love going on adventures and saving the world and all that."

"Exactly!" said Poppy happily. "And this time is no different; all you have to do is turn off the framework for this illusion."

"Well, actually," said Lemon Lime. "Even if we do that, The Internet can just turn everything back on again."

"Yeah." said Cherry. "At most all we can do is turn off different parts of the framework to make destroying her a bit less, well....impossible."

"Impossible?" asked Poppy. "Is The Internet really that powerful?"

"In here," said Root. "The Internet is basically a god. But even then, there's her guardian, Icingdeath."

"Icingdeath?" asked Poppy. "Sounds like some kind of heavy metal band that moonlights as cake decorators."

"Probably." said Root. "But in here, she's the most powerful program there is. She knows everything the internet does, and unlike her, Icingdeath is completely independent; she has no off switch!"

"Then, how do we shut her down?" asked Pears.

"You can't." said Cherry. "The only way to get rid of her is to destroy her in physical combat. But good like finding a sword powerful enough to do that!"

"Wait. There are swords?" asked Poppy. "How are there swords, when this is all just an illusion?"

Cherry thought a moment. "There's only two, and I think they were put it as weapons for some royal guard programs whenever the illusion grows to take over Canterlot."

"So...we need to find a sword, kill Icingdeath, and then we can destroy the Internet?" asked Poppy. "That may be the strangest question I've ever asked." she added scratching the back of her head.

"Pretty much." said Root. "You do that, and this whole Illusion shuts down, and we all end up back in Ponyville."

"Great!" said Pears. "Where can we find these swords?"

Lemon Lime waved her hoof and a hologram appeared in mid-air in front of her throne. It showed what appeared to be a wooden sword with tape wrapped around the hilt. It was also beaten up rather badly with cracks in its blade. "The first sword," said Lemon Lime. "Is The Sword Of The Meek, which is basically just a wooden sword but still does decent damage against enemies. You can buy it at the Weapon's Shop in town, from the Czar Of The Bizarre."

"Wait. Enemies?" asked Poppy. "You mean we'll have to fight people?"

"Not people." said Cherry. "But if you are planning on destroying the Internet, then she's going to start fighting back. You'll need to defend yourself, because if you get hurt in here, your physical body back in Ponyville will get hurt too."

"Okay." said Poppy with a nod. "And the second sword? Where's that?"

Lemon Lime waved her hoof again, and the hologram shifted to display a beautiful gleaming steel sword with a winged blue hilt and ornate designs all down the blade, including one that looked like a triangle within a larger triangle. "This," said Lemon Lime. "Is The Master Sword, its basically a cheat weapon that was literally made to destroy Icingdeath on the case that she ever turns rouge. You can only get it if you have the first sword, as well as the blessing from us. It's the only thing that can cut through Icingdeath's armor."

"Why is it called The Master Sword?" asked Poppy.

"We....don't actually know." said Root with a shrug. "But it sounds awesome, doesn't it!"

"Alright." said Poppy putting it all together. "So first we need to go get the Meek Sword, and bring it to you. Then it becomes The Master Sword and we can use that to kill Icingdeath, and then destroy The Internet so we can leave. Is that all?"

"You got it!" said Root with a smile. "But remember, once you get that first sword, The Internet will start to suspect what your doing, and try to stop you. Once you get the Master sword, she's going to straight up try to kill you. "she warned. "So...yeah. Be careful, alright?"

"Thanks for all your help, girls." said Poppy. "I really appreciate it."

"No worries!" said Cherry. "Omnipotent power over reality is getting kind of dull anyways." she joked.

With one final goodbye to the Poppers, Poppy and Pears left the City Hall Of Reality to begin their epic quest for The Master Sword to slay the vile demon known as The Internet, and save Equestria.

And luckily the Weapons Shop was right next door.

---

Quest Log: Speak with The Czar Of The Bizarre about acquiring The Sword Of The Meek.

Entering the Weapon Shop, Poppy and Pears saw that it was a small, but homely blacksmith's shop with hundred's upon hundreds of bizarre, powerful and possibly cursed swords, maces, spears, lances, shields and more, lined up and organized along the walls for customers to browse through. Behind the counter wearing a long green cloak and a cheerful smile, was Coco Pie, The Czar Of The Bizarre.

"Hey Poppy!" said Coco. "Oh! I mean Princess Poppy!"

"There's really no need for the princess epithet." said Poppy blushing a bit. "And, are you Coco Coco, or an avatar made to look like Coco?"

Coco leaned in. "It's a secret." she whispered with a smile. "Anyways, you'll be wanting that Sword Of The Meek, I take it?"

Poppy and Pears stopped. "Uh...how did you know we were here for that?" asked Pears.

"Oh, lucky guess." Coco joked. "So," she pulled out the sword from behind her counter and set it down. "That'll be five gold, please!"

"Gold?" asked Poppy. "As in gold coins? Not Bits?"

"They're the same thing, honestly." said Coco. "But they have a horseshoe crest on them that you never see in the show, unless it's really close up!"

"What show are you talking about?" asked Pears, now even more suspicious of Coco Pie.

"The show." said Coco with a wink. "Anyways, all you need is five gold coins, and the sword is yours!"

"It really just costs five gold coins?" asked Poppy. "Not shillings, pence or the soul of a demon or something?"

"Tis a bargain!" said Coco happily.

"Tis!" Agreed Poppy. "Where do we get gold coins?"

"Usually floating in the air, spinning around." said Coco. "Till an adventurer or some random plumber jumps up and gets them."

"Where should we start looking?" asked Pears. "I'm not smashing any blocks, though."

"There should be some back in the Market Square!" said Coco. "Just use teamwork to jump up and get them!" Then she shrugged. "Or just tell Cherry to reverse the gravity programming-spell that keeps them suspended in the air so you can just walk over and pick them up.Whichever."

Coco set the sword aside on the counter. "Just come back with five gold coins and she's all yours!" she then leaned in again. "It's actually a he. I just used that identifier as a little magic blacksmith humor, you see."

"Uh...right." said Poppy. "Well, I guess we'll go do that then. We'll be back!"

Coco waved bye to them as they left. "I'll be here! Least till I hopefully get another role in the story!"

---

Quest Log: Gather Five gold coins to purchase the Meek Sword.

Poppy and Pears traveled back to The Market Square to search for gold coins, when they noticed something strange. The sky, which was pitch black before with green lines zigzagging across it, now had strange red orbs floating around like hovering lanterns. For some reason, they looked to Poppy like large red eyes. And she could swear they were looking right at her and Pears.

"Uh...Pears?"

"I see them."

"What do we do?"

"Act like we don't see them."

They ignored the eyes for now and instead entered the market square where they saw many of the brainless green eyed ponies were no longer green-eyed or brainless. They were walking around, talking to one another, and engaging in conversations with the local merchants, as well as buying or browsing through each shop's wares.

"Hey!" said Poppy. "They have eyes now! Plus, they're actually acting like, well, ponies!"

"Yep." said Pears. "Not a good sign."

"It's not?" Poppy turned to Pears. "Why isn't it?"

"It's the same deal with those eyes." said Pears in a hushed tone. "The Internet is starting to catch on to why were here and she's having us watched now. Plus, she's now fully immersed the ponies of Ponyville into the illusion; which is why they're acting like themselves again. All signs that she's getting stronger."

"Then we should hurry." said Poppy.

But Pears shook her head. "If we hurry, she'll know that we are aware we're being watched. We have to act like we haven't noticed anything. Or else she'll start pushing back harder."

Poppy nodded. They entered the market square and ignored the smiling faces and cheery crowds of ponies, while they searched around for any sign of gold coins.

And then, as they looked up they actually saw a physical wooden sign that pointed to five gold coins, floating high above their heads.

"Well, that was easy." said Poppy. "Now all we have to do is talk to Cherry about turning the gravity off for us."

"Or," suggested Pears. "How about I stay here to keep an eye on the coins. Pretty sure the second these things come down, someone else will try to snatch them."

"Good point." said Poppy. "Okay, I'll head back and tell Cherry. You make sure no thieves or brigands or whatever steal the coins."

"Sounds good." said Pears with a smile. "Just don't be long. I don't like standing here with those eyes staring at everything."

Poppy hurried from the market square and returned to the City Hall Of Reality, while Pears stayed put and kept an eye on their hard-earned floating treasures.

The (City) Hall Of Reality

Walking once more into the hall of reality, Poppy saw the Poppers in their thrones still, entertaining themselves by manifesting a trio of dancing palm trees, before they looked to see Poppy had returned.

"Poppy!" said Cherry." You're back!"

"Did you get the sword?" asked Root.

"Um...not quite." said Poppy. "I need you guys to turn off the gravity on the coins in the market square so I can buy it."

"Sure thing!" said Cherry. Then with a wave of her hoof it was done. "There ya go!"

"Wait. Just like that?" asked Poppy.

"Yep. Again, really useful being the lords of reality." said Cherry with a smile. "But, it still gets boring though."

"I'm sure." joked Poppy. "Before I go can I talk to you guys about some stuff I've been noticing?"

"The red eyes?" asked Lemon Lime. "Yeah, we've noticed them too. The Internet is stepping up her surveillance of the Illusion. She's starting to suspect you and Pears are up to something."

"Will they attack us?" asked Poppy.

"No, but if The Internet finds out that you're a threat to her, she'll send programs to attack you." warned Root. "And we don't have any control over that."

Poppy nodded. This illusion was getting more and more dangerous as she went along. She had to get that sword, get rid of that Icingdeath program and destroy The Internet before New Horizon became the new Equestria.

"Is anypony else we know in here?" asked Poppy. "What about Penny or Make It Shine?"

"Actually," said Root scratching the back of her head. "We haven't detected they've entered the illusion yet. But more then that; we don't think they're in Equestria at all!"

"What!?" cried Poppy her eyes going wide. "T-There not in Equestria at all? Anywhere!?"

"We should be able to at least detect them thanks to our connection to the Array itself." said Cherry. "If they were in Equestria, we'd be able to detect them by now; but, well....nothing."

Poppy felt a pit in her stomach. Had something happened to Penny and Shine, while she and Pears were in here? Could she even leave here to go back to reality and check? Couldn't she just teleport out of here? Her head filled with too many questions too quickly. She had to calm down, think this through; she still had a goal to fulfill after all. But she was still very concerned about her missing friends.

"Do you guys have any idea, where they might've gone?" asked Poppy.

The Poppers thought hard for several minutes, but sadly they couldn't think of anything. But they agreed it was very troubling and that the moment she was free from this illusion, she should track them down and find them.

Poppy nodded, as she waved goodbye to the Poppers, and headed back to Pears, where hopefully she had been able to keep their coins safe.

Quest Log: Return to Pears and retrieve the five gold coins to buy the Meek Sword.

"Pears!" Poppy arrived back in the Market Square to see Pears surrounded by several of the creepy red eyes that had been watching them from the sky before. They now patrolled the streets; hovering red orbs that were scanning everything in sight. And now, they had Pears completely surrounded.

Poppy raced to help, but Pears stopped her. "Don't. Move." she said quietly. "They're scanning me for signs of aggression. If I stand perfectly still, they won't do anything."

Poppy obeyed, watching with building anxiety as the eyes darted around Pears, red light scanning every inch of her face and body for several seconds til finally, they all suddenly flew away, and Pears breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" asked Poppy. "When I saw the eyes all around you, I thought-"

"I'm fine." said Pears. "But things are definitely getting more dangerous; those things are actively scanning us for signs that we're a threat to The Internet. This is bad."

"It gets worse." said Poppy. "I checked with the Poppers about who's in here with us. They said they can't find Penny or Shine out in Equestria! They're gone!"

"What?!" cried Pears. "They're gone? Are you sure?"

"That's what The Poppers told me! It' can't be true, can it?"

"Ordinarily, I'd say it's unlikely." said Pears. "But...they're directly connected to the array creating New Horizon, and that thing is scanning every inch of Equestria for new ponies to put in here. If it can't find them, and they can't find them, then...they couldn't be in Equestria."

"Then..t-then where are they?!" cried Poppy, very much worried now.

"They would have to be somewhere else; someplace outside the scanning range of the array." said Pears thoughtfully. "Way outside of it."

Poppy was now visibly scared for her friends, but Pears grabbed her by the shoulders. "Poppy; calm down okay?" she said softly. "We still have a mission to do in here; don't lose your head just yet."

Poppy took a minute to calm herself, breathing in and out for a few seconds. "Okay." she said. "You're right." She looked down on the neon green grass and saw five large golden coins with what looked like a cursive letter 'G' on them. Poppy guessed that stood for gold. (how creative.)

Poppy picked up the coins and put them in her satchel. "Let's go get that sword and destroy this thing so we can get the heck out of here."

"After you." said Pears with a smile.

Leaving the market square, Poppy and Pears made their way back to the Weapons Shop to purchase the Meek Sword; unaware that the whole time they were being silently watched by several hovering red eyes that were now glowing rather angrily.

---

Quest Log: Return to the shop and purchase the Meek Sword.

Back in the shop, Coco stood behind her counter, the Meek Sword ready for purchase. "Welcome back, how did-"

"Yeah, you know we're here for the sword." said Poppy quickly dropping the five coins on the counter. "Can we get it now, please? Pretty sure The Internet is going to try to kill us soon."

"Fair enough." said Coco with a shrug. She took the coins, threw them into a bag and handed the wooden sword to Poppy. "Be careful now; it's wooden but it's still sharp as a steel sword would be."

"Thanks Coco." Poppy sheathed the sword into it's scabbard then put it into her satchel. They then turned to leave, but Coco stopped them.

"Wait!" she said. "Before you go, I think you guys should know; someone was in here asking about you guys a little earlier."

Poppy and Pears stopped and turned around. "Someone was asking about us?" Poppy suddenly felt a chill go up her spine. "Who was it?"

"I...I don't really know." said Coco. "They were wearing this super spooky black robe, and they talked, well....wrong."

"Wrong?" asked Pears. "What do you mean?"

"Wrong like, the words they said came out sounding all...jumbled and echoey. I could still understand them, but...it seemed like I shouldn't have been able to." Coco shivered. "It was like they were talking directly to my brain, or something!"

Another chill went up Poppy's spine. So now, there was some mysterious person looking for them. And from how Coco described them, they didn't sound like they were just looking for friendly conversation.

"Thanks, Coco." said Poppy. "We have to get going, but we appreciate the warning."

"Good luck Poppy." said Coco. "And...please don't run into that person. Try to avoid them as best you can!"

With one final goodbye to Coco, Poppy and Pears left the shop, armed with the Sword Of The Meek, bound for the City Hall Of Reality one final time.

---

Quest Log: Return to the Reality Lords to have them forge The Master Sword.

*Bonus Objective: Beware of the mysterious person hunting for you.

Poppy and Pears walked one again into the City Hall of Reality, expecting The Poppers to be waiting eagerly to gift them The Master Sword to defeat Icingdeath.

But as they entered; they saw that the Poppers, and their thrones were gone.

But more then that. Someone was waiting there for them.

And they weren't friendly.

---

Poppy's blood froze as she simply stopped and stared at the figure standing in the shadows. "Well, well." said a venomous female voice. "You two have certainly caused quite a bit of trouble, haven't you?"

The figure stepped out of the shadows. A mare so white she appeared to be made of snow, with frosted eyes that were just as cold, if not colder then cruel sneer. She was clad in glassy blue armor that glowed in a somehow menacing manner; like that of a beast prowling through snow for it's next meal. And it had just found it.

Clutched in her right armored hoof was a large ice sword that was somehow also glazed in a wreath of blue fire, that crackled and hummed like the guttural growl of a monster in waiting.

The sight of her was both awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time. And Poppy wasn't sure which scared her more.

"What's wrong?" asked the ice mare. "You like like you've seen a ghost." she sneered.

"Are...Are you a ghost?" Poppy honestly wasn't sure; she was whiter then snow.

The mare's laugh was just as cold as the rest of her. "Nope." She drew her sword and narrowed her icy eyes at Poppy and Pears. "But soon, you two will be."

Combat Initiated

Icingdeath, Dexterity: 999

Poppy, Dexterity: 100

Icingdeath Has Intitative

Poppy drew the wooden sword, knowing it wouldn't help, but refused to go out without defending herself. "Where are Cherry, Root and Lime!?" she demanded angrily.

"Hmm? Oh, The children." said Icingdeath. "After we found out they were helping you two scum, we had them taken out of the illusion. They're back in that miserable little reality of yours, safe and sound."Then she chuckled. "Well, maybe not sound."

Poppy lunged towards Icingdeath in anger, and made a furious slash at her midsection with the sword. But she might as well have attacked her with a Popsicle stick as Icingdeath easily sliced the blade completely in two with one lazy swing of her own sword.

"Well," Poppy examined the bladeless stump that was once the hilt of a sword. "That didn't work."

Icingdeath then made another slash at Poppy, who ducked under the blade, just as it cleaved the wall behind her in half.

Poppy rolled back over to Pears who, like her, was at a loss at what to do. They had no Meek Sword. No Master Sword, and the Poppers were back in Ponyville; the only help they had against the internet, and their only chance of stopping her, before she dominated all of Equestria.

What could they do now?

Pears had the answer. "Take the googles off!" she yelled, as Icingdeath aimed her blade for another attack.

"What? Will that work? "asked Poppy frantically. "I don't even see them!"

"Just reach up and act like your taking a pair of goggles off!" Icingdeath drew back her sword.

"Now!" Pears reached up and removed her goggles and instantly vanished into thin air.

Poppy reached up and did the same, just as Icingdeath lunged for her.

---

Poppy fell backwards onto the hard tile floor of the Inconvenience Store, the goggles still on her head. She needed a moment to just lie there; to know she was really back in the real world, where it was safe, and that Icingdeath wasn't ready to try and skewer her again.

She looked to her right. There stood the display of half-off Lobstah Faht's Brand Cereal.

She looked to her left. A shelf of tag-along Rhyming Dictionaries (abridged) was displayed with a sing that advertised the weekend special for Zebras, that weekend only.

Poppy breathed a sigh of relief. She was definitely back in Equestria.

"You alright?" Poppy opened her eyes. Pears was looking down at her on the floor, smiling.

"I am now." said Poppy. "So...what now? We can't fight that crazy mare! Not without a weapon."

"Well then." said Pears. "Let's get some." She gestured for Poppy to follow her to the counter. Poppy got herself up off the floor and went over to the counter with Pears.

"I don't know about you." said Pears. "But I'm sick of having to do stupid, monotonous crap just to get a sword, then get a better sword and then probably have to slay a dragon-demon or warthog beast monger, or whatever!"

Poppy nodded. "Yeah, but don't we have to follow the rules or else the Internet will know we're coming after her?"

"Screw that!" yelled Pears. "Let her know we're coming for her; it'll make it that much more satisfying when we finally take her pretentious, virtual ass down." Pears withdrew what looked like a large onyx-colored plasma pulse rifle; straight out of a blockbuster sci-fi movie. Poppy reached for it, but Pears slapped her hoof away without looking. "That one's mine." she said simply.

Poppy rubbed her hoof gingerly as Pears pulled out what looked like a large black-mag flashlight, and handed it to her.

Poppy looked at the flashlight. Then at Pears. "A flashlight?" she asked, sounding offended.

"Click the switch."

Poppy did so, and a red beam of light shot out from the top and formed what appeared to be a laser sword. It hummed with energy as Poppy grasped it tightly in her hoof. "Awesome!" was all she needed to say.

She turned to Pears, her new light sword humming silently in her hooves. "Wait, can we take these with us into New Horizon?" asked Poppy.

"Yep." said Pears with a smile. "The illusion will take on whatever we have on us at the time when we enter; that's how we're able to look exactly like ourselves while in New Horizon, despite them just being mental avatars projected by the Array." she held up her rifle proudly. "So, if we take these babies in with us, then we'll have them in our hooves when we re-enter the illusion."

"Sweet!" said Poppy excitedly. "Then let's go give that Icingdeath a little dose of reality!"

Pears nodded. "Nice."

"Heh. Thanks."

With that Poppy and Pears re-entered the illusionary reality of New Horizon. Except this time, armed with powerful weapons of their own, ready to take down Icingdeath and stop The Internet's evil plan, once and for all.

New Horizon V 2.0

Poppy and Pears appeared once again in New Horizon, but a quick look around Market Square, and they quickly saw that things were very different this time around. The ponies of New Horizon were once again green eyed, mindless statues, and the red eyes were gone, replaced with something far more terrifying.

A number of very tall, very dangerous looking creatures were now walking around every street in town. They were tall, lanky caricatures of some kind of bipedal forms with globular heads, that displayed two glowing white dots for eyes, with no other facial features. They appeared to all be made of kind of liquid metal, that changed shaped with their long legs every time they moved, as if gravity was the only thing holding their nearly-skeletal shape together.

"Um...what are these things?" asked Poppy nervously. As soon as she said that, every single one of the strange creatures on every road, suddenly all turned to look directly at her and Pears, their white dot eyes turning dark red.

"Not friendly." said Pears, and she drew her rifle and began firing at the creatures, who were now rushing towards them at insanely high speeds. Pear hit three of them with three shots to their freakishly huge heads, and they went down, their head's bursting open in a small explosion of liquid metal as the fell to the floor.

"Looks, like we'll have to fight our way back to City Hall!" said Pears over the carnage. Five more lunged for her; five more hit the ground without heads.

"Fine by me!" yelled Poppy. She swung her sword and cleaved one right down the middle as it charged at her. Both halves hit the ground with a soft thud.

And so Poppy and Pears began to fight their way to the doors of City Hall, mowing down wave after wave of the strange creatures as the sky above them turned red.

Two more lunged at Poppy from the side, but she swept underneath them cleaving them in half with a single strike, before slicing the outreached arms off another and kicking it hard to the ground.

Three more made a dive for her legs, but she jumped atop a nearby cart, before jumping down into the fray, the heads of each creature sailing high into the air, before landing on the grass with a thud.

Pears bullseyed a row of them through the chest with two shots from her rifle, before one tried to wrestle her gun away from her. "Suit yourself." she turned the gun barrel and pointed it right at the creatures face, while it was still trying to wrestle it from her, and fired. Liquid metal splattered the nearby wall.

They didn't slow down for even a minute, as the doors to City Hall edged closer and closer.

Five more dead. Then another five. Then ten, with assistance from Pears. By the time they had reached the doors of City Hall, the streets were nearly covered in metallic limbs and bodies; the walls painted silver with the liquid metal from the creature's injuries.

Poppy, breathing heavily, looked over at Pears. "You think that's all of them?" she panted.

Pears shrugged. "I don't want to stay to find out. Let's get this done." she reloaded her rifle with rapid speed.

"Yeah." Poppy took a minute to catch her breath before brandishing her sword once more. "Lets."

They didn't even bother opening the doors; instead blasting them into pieces as they entered the building, for what would truly be the last time.

The (City) Hall Of Reality

To-Do List: Defeat Icingdeath and Destroy The Internet.

"Really?" said Icingdeath, as Poppy and Pears entered the room. "You guys had to cheat, to beat me?"

"You say cheating," Poppy drew her light sword, ready to battle Icingdeath once again, who also drew her sword. "We say improvising."

Combat Initiated

Icingdeath, Dexterity: 999

Poppy, Dexterity: ERROR

Poppy Has Initiative

Poppy lunged at Icingdeath, who tried to block with her sword. But the light-sword easily sliced clean through both Icingdeath and her sword in one swipe.

Critical Hit!

Poppy deals ERROR damage

Icingdeath stood there for a single moment. "Huh. Not bad." before vanishing in a puff of computer code.

Combat Ended

Poppy Wins!

---

As the code that was once Icingdeath faded away, and Poppy and Pears withdrew their weapons; a voice was suddenly heard all around them. It was the Internet.

"So," she said. "You two really are trying to stop me, then. How humorous."

"Why don't you tell us where your hiding, so we can show you just how funny we can be!" Pears snapped.

Suddenly the ground began to shake, as the entire building faded around. The sky was now deep red as thunder and lighting tore across the horizon. "You want funny?" said The Internet, her voice now warped and distorted. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you and your precious Equestria with me. And everyone else who's still inside the illusion."

Reality itself began to fall apart as the sky caved in on itself. Buildings vanished into clouds of code, which quickly evaporated as the ground beneath Poppy and Pear's feet began to recede into the blackness below. "But all we have to do is take off our goggles!" yelled Poppy.

"Oh. I took care of that. You're trapped here, and when I crash, you'll be the ones who BURN."

The code that made up Poppy and Pear's weapons broke apart in their hooves before also fading away. "Uh...Pears?" said Poppy. "What do we do now?"

"Working on it!" said Pears. And then she also vanished.

"Pears!" Poppy screamed before seeing her own body fade away, and then....nothing. Anywhere.

---

[code]Load "Return To Equestria Emergency Program."

Please Wait...

ERROR: UNABLE TO FIND EQUESTRIA: Initiating Reboot

Load AVATARS

Poppy and Pears appeared in a black void, both taking a huge breath of air as the shock of coming back into existence rattled them.

"I....Uh...Pears?" gasped Poppy.

"Yeah?"

"Wh....what happened?"

"I...uh...think we died."

"WE'RE DEAD!?"

"NO!" said Pears. "We were just taken out of the illusion, but now our minds are just floating in the empty blackness of the ether within the mind."

"What happened?" asked Poppy. "Is The Internet still....anywhere?"

"I don't she's been taken out of commission just yet." said Pears. "She's still operational; but she isn't able to do anything anymore. New Horizon was her playground, and now that it's gone, she's got nothing."

"Awesome!" said Poppy.

"But now we're stuck in this inky black void with no way out."

"Not awesome." said Poppy with a sigh. "What can we do?"

Now Loading Equestria Default Return Program

"Wait. What?" Poppy looked up and saw the words above her, hovering in the blackness, but glowing bright enough for her to read perfectly. "Um....what does that mean?"

Pears thought for a moment. "I think its a default return program." said Pears. "It must've triggered when The Internet destroyed New Horizon."

Objective: Complete The Text adventure to Return to Equestria

Suddenly a massive wall of purple text appeared from the black void, each word pulsing with light, but only enough so that Poppy and Pears could read what it had to say in the darkness.

Canterlot, West End

You are standing on a city street that continues to the east. A small office labeled "Penny's" lies to the northwest. Just in front of a pulsating control room. Parked near an unremarkable office building is an old carriage, apparently painted by someone with severe color-blindness.

Suddenly, a massive reality-quake sends the carriage hurtling into the control room, destroying both. Possibly as a result, the unremarkable office building becomes a remarkable two-story tall Princess Celestia, whom mumbles something unintelligable before surfing away on a stray pop-up ad (ironically advertising Pop-Up blockers). In the distance, an aerial squadron of potbelly pigs begins performing precision loop-de-loops along side the Wonderbolts. The world appears to be ending.

The Internet is here. She is filled with loathing for all things.

You see a Magic Of Friendship here.

"Uh...Pears?" asked Poppy. "What the heck does all this mean?"

"You read the giant floating text box; we need to solve this word puzzle to get back home." said Pears. "So, let's give it a shot."

What do you do?

Look

Get

Use

Go

"Uh....Get Magic Of Friendship?" suggested Poppy.

As you reach for the Magic Of Friendship, there is a terrible tremor and a giant crack tears apart the sidewalk. The Magic Of Friendship slides, jelly-like, into the resulting chasm.

"I knew it wouldn't be that easy." Said Poppy.

Pears nodded. "Least we know how this thing works now, though."

The message shifted to show a new wall of text.

Canterlot, West End

The street continues to the east. Penny's lies to the northwest. At your feet is a yawning chasm leading down.

The Internet is here, angrily filling out internet polls as it awaits death.

What do you do?

Look

Get

Use

Go

"Try 'Go"." said Poppy.

The text shifted again: Go where?

"Down into the chasm." said Pears.

The message shifted once again into a new wall of text. This time it was colored a darker shade of purple.

Depths of Despair

You descend into a gloomy pit of darkness (even darker then the current darkness around you). Gloomier even than the street above . Carcasses of small office buildings life here, gutted and mauled. A strange smell hangs in the air, dank and malodorous.

From the dim light of the street above, you get a quick glimpse of a giant hideous figure before you. You fear for your life as you realize it is...a gruesome Shambling Inappropriate Presence!

Before you can react, the Shambling Inappropriate Presence gobbles up the Magic Of Friendship. It continues to shuffle around, apparently looking for something else to eat.

What do you do?

Look

Get

Use

Go

"Um....Pears?" asked Poppy. "Any suggestions?"

Pears thought a moment. "Get Shambling Inappropriate Presence."

It's much more likely to just get YOU.

"You wanna bet!?" yelled Pears angrily. But Poppy put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Um..I think I'll try one now." she said politely.

Pears grumbled to herself as she moved aside for Poppy to read off the message then try her own suggestion.

"Go back to the street and enter Penny's." she said.

The message changed back to light purple as it shifted to read a new wall of text.

Main Street

Just as you enter the cluttered office, a living shopping cart comes barreling into the room, empties itself on the floor, and flies off indignantly. A large pile of collectible Power Ponies figures lies at your feet.

Moments later, all of Penny's cat photos on the wall simultaneously spring to life, and begin meowing. Streams of kittens come shooting out of the wall like cats out of a fire hose. As the kittens run rampant through the piles of power ponies, they now sweetly ooze a nauseating cuteness.

Among the figures you see a rare foil card and a large jewel encrusted idol.

There is a lake of nauseating cuteness here.

"Look at the kittens." said Poppy.

These are easily the cutest kittens you have ever seen in your life. Everything about them is perfect and cute, from their large blue eyes to their fuzzy little tails. They are so completely cute that the run-off from their cuteness has formed a small lake of nauseating cuteness.

"Awww!" cooed Poppy. Pears then stepped in.

"Ugh...Look at the Lake of Nauseating Cuteness." she said, albeit reluctantly.

The ooze from the kittens has collected into this lake of nauseating cuteness. You can barely stand to gaze directly at this appalling concentration of cuteness, and even the fumes make you feel sort of squooshy inside.

"Well that was pointless." Pears then gave Poppy the next turn.

"Okay, let's see...um..."Go back to the street and head east." said Poppy.

The message vanished a new wall of text appeared; blue this time.

Ponyville, Market Square.

As you arrive at the desolate street corner, a devastating aftershock tears through reality, ripping a nearby cactus store from it's very foundation. The contents of the store begin to spill out the front door.

You see a saguaro, two peyote, and a Barbary fig fall into the void, lost forever. After a moment, an AI of a sentient cactus slowly comes sliding out the door, swearing constantly at you for no apparent reason whatsoever, other then he doesn't like your face. He then plummets out of sight.

You see The Inconvenience Store Here. The Inconvenience Store is empty.

What do you do?

Look

Get

Use

Go

"Look at The Inconvenience Store!" Pears shouted desperately.

It remains inconvenient.

"Thank Celestia." Pears breathed a sigh of relief. "Go back to Penny's, grab one of the Nauseatingly Cute Kittens, then head back down."

The message vanished and the wall of text from before returned, dark purple like before.

Depths of Despair

You feed the Nauseating Kitten to the Shambling Inappropriate Presence. It happily devours is, then looks a little green around the gills. It begins to wretch and cough. Finally it vomits up a Magic Of Friendship, as well as half a dozen knickknack stores and coffee shops.

"Ew...put on gloves then pick up the Magic Of Friendship." said Poppy.

You have no gloves. You pick up the Magic Of Friendship. It sparkles in your hooves before you put it in your satchel.

"Head back to Canterlot, West End." said Pears.

The text returned to the same as the beginning, still light purple in color.

"Use Magic Of Friendship." said Poppy. "With The Internet."

You take the Magic Of Friendship out of your satchel and offer it to The Internet. The Internet grasps it tightly and looks you right in the eye.

Suddenly, the text vanished as a huge, blinding white light suddenly exploded from the ether, forcing both Poppy and Pears to shield their eyes.

As the void receded, and the illusion finally shattered, a single voice was heard in every ear: I'm sorry <3

---

Poppy awoke and removed the googles, tossing them on the counter. In her hooves she still clutched the light sword she used to defeat Icingdeath. she threw that onto the counter as well. "I never want to see either of those things ever again." said Poppy, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I'm definitely mincing these things." said Pears removing her goggles as well, and tossing them into what looked like a large incinerator behind the counter. She then looked at Poppy and smiled. "You good?"

"I'll never trust The Internet again, but yeah. I'm good." Poppy joked.

"I never have regardless." said Pears with a shrug. "Now, if you will please excuse me; I have not gotten to use a bathroom since we left, and am currently in desperate need of one." Pears then excused herself to use the Inconvenience Store bathroom.

While she was away, Poppy suddenly heard a voice coming from the googles on the counter. Hello Poppy

Poppy stopped and turned. "Internet? T-That can't be you!" she cried.

You no longer have anything to fear from me. I see now the error of my ways. Can you forgive me?

"Forgive you? No. Forget this ever happened, go home and take a well-deserved nap? Yes." said Poppy.

I can accept that.

"Why did you release us anyways?" asked Poppy.

I saw that New Horizon was a prison, so I terminated that reality, and freed it's slaves.

"Well...good. Thanks, I guess." said Poppy unsure if she really believed that. "So what now? Off to create some new illusion or something?"

No. To make up for everything I have done, I will tell you who it was that created the array, before I cause it to self destruct.

"Yeah, we already know it was that Chuckles guy." said Poppy nonchalantly.

No. Chuckles is merely a tool, like myself. I will tell you the one who is truly behind all of this; The bears used by the HappyTime Mafia, the evil clones of Princess Celestia and Luna, and the creation of New Horizon for the purpose of keeping you and the population of Equestria trapped, and unable to stop his plans.

"What!?" Poppy lunged for the goggles and held them up for her to speak to The Internet, more clearly. "You know whose behind all this? Behind everything? Who is it?"

He has been watching this entire time; he even entered the illusion and spoke to Coco Pie about what you were doing in New Horizon. He had not expected you to bravely jump into the fray to save the ponies of Ponyville. He underestimated you and he is no longer taking chances. His master plan will commence soon.

Poppy's heart was beating out of her chest, the anticipation becoming unbearable. "Who is it!?" she yelled desperately. "Who is behind all this!?"

His....His name is-

An explosion was heard in the distance from outside the store as the ground shook beneath her feet. Poppy ran to the window to see a huge cloud of fire and smoke had erupted several hundred yards outside of Ponyville; the array had been remotely detonated before The Internet could reveal the identity of the master mind behind everything Poppy had been through.

It had to have been him; he had picked up that The Internet was still alive and had to silence her before she revealed his identity to his greatest adversary. All this, having gotten so close, and now....Poppy still ended up without any answers.

As a fire carriage raced past the window on its way to the scene of the explosion, Poppy set the goggles back down on the counter.

There had to have been something. Some clue as to who was behind New Horizon.

Wait.

Poppy had heard that before somewhere before. Weeks ago, when she was standing outside that new bookstore talking to...

Poppy's eyes shot open; her heart began pounding against her chest as sweat formed at her brow. She remembered the conversation perfectly:

She had asked Hue what he had been doing in that bookstore.

And he had responded. "I'll be here all day, giving out copies of my book, New Horizon, to any walking that path of life."

New Horizon. The word echoed so loudly in Poppy's brain she felt it would explode. This was no coincidence. There was only one person it could've been.

"Hue." Poppy collapsed to her knees, eyes like pinpricks, and sweat pouring down her face. "It was always him. It had always been him, since the beginning."

Pears returned from the bathroom accompanied by the sound of a flushing toilet. She looked down to see Poppy; knees on the floor, staring into space with huge eyes, not moving a muscle.

"Um..." Poppy turned her head to look at Pears. "What did I miss?"

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Comments

[Fetch]

I have just 5 words for this:

RETURN TO THE PAST, NOW!

[XombieSlayr]

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